Usted está aquí

Salt Lake City Sunflower Seed Sauce

By Guru Tera Kaur Khalsa

In the 1970s, in Salt Lake City, Utah, an ashram based on the teachings of Yogi Bhajan was thriving. We practiced Kundalini Yoga, did morning sadhana, had an ashram cleaning business in which many of us worked, and enthusiastically tried to ‘live for each other’ (but, as you know if you’ve tried it, it often felt like we were living ‘at’ or ‘against’ each other), bumping into one another’s egos at every turn. This was our time of trial by fire, as we were polished and honed by the technology of Kundalini Yoga and ashram life.

We set up the requisite karma yoga chart, signing up for various household tasks each week, including preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I always did a good share of the grocery shopping and cooking. Over the years, the members of the ashram came and went, but many still remember the delicious and healthy Sunflower Seed Sauce we made to go on top of mixed steamed vegetables and basmati rice, one of our standard weekly dinners. We also used it as a scrumptious and hearty salad dressing.

Our numbers ranged between 6 and 20 in the fourteen years we lived together, but I remember always making the biggest pot of steamed vegetables you can imagine. (New vegetarians are often concerned about getting enough food.) We steamed lots of broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, yams, onions, and whatever else was in season.

Sunflower Seed Sauce (and/or sesame seed)

I don’t recall where this recipe came from; I know I didn’t create it. The ingredients are approximate and require some experimentation until you get it the way you like it best.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds (you can add or substitute sesame seeds – if you use raw unhulled sesame, you have a great source of high quality calcium)

Juice of 1-2 lemons

1 garlic clove

Sea salt, Bragg’s aminos, or Tamari to taste

Fresh ground black pepper

1 - 2 cups water

1 – 3 tablespoons olive oil (optional)

Put everything in the blender except the olive oil, and blend until smooth. If it’s too thin, add the oil. If it’s too thick, add more water. Taste it, add salt if needed, adjust everything to your liking. Try adding some fresh or dried herbs and spices, onion, parsley, cilantro, jalapenos…how about sun dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers? Back in the ‘70s, before all the gourmet foods became popular, we loved it plain.

Guru Tera Kaur is the web editor and content organizer for 3HO. She began her practice of Kundalini Yoga in 1972 at Humboldt State College in California. She loves the 3HO lifestyle and is honored to serve by sharing the teachings of Yogi Bhajan with our spiritual family and all of humanity.